Systemic innovation

Systemic innovation is necessary for human development. Throughout

history, societies have innovated entire systems such as warfare, transport, and
irrigation among many other key aspects of human life. System level thinking is
integral for social entrepreneurship and innovation. Through social
entrepreneurship and social innovation, individuals and organizations around
the world are working towards achieving a new social order where social
welfare is a priority. Ideas like individualism and profit maximization will
become secondary to social welfare maximization. However, in order to truly
achieve social change, I believe systematic change is necessary.

1.
Society nowadays generally rewards selfish behavior, marked by
individualism and profit maximization, and rejects socially aware behavior.
Therefore, systemic change is necessary if we wish to attain a new global attitude
that will allow for the sustainable development of new business models,
industries, and systems. As Eli Stefanski stated, incremental innovation is not
going to achieve this goal. The solution Eli Stefanski refers to is disruptive
innovation as it unexpectedly interrupts the way things are currently being done
and introduces a new process, product or service, sometimes even creating a
new market and value network for it. If we consider this at the systems-scale, we
would be looking at true social change that transcends one particular industry or
market and is felt, system-wide, across countries, markets, industries, and
disciplines.
Social entrepreneurship and innovation looks towards causing a system-
wide change. However, the majority of examples of social entrepreneurship and
innovation are small scale and behave more as incremental innovation than the
disruptive innovation Eli Stefanski refers to. However, as Geoff Mulgan and
Charlie Leadbeater state in their discussion paper, relatively small organizations
can be the catalysts for this change if their ideas become strong enough so that
they can grow big as the new system comes into being. Long periods may exist
where only a few innovators advocate change. These pioneers are met with some
resistance and they are not given much attention until a tipping point is reached.
This tipping point leads to a variety of competitive alternatives, which ultimately
leads to a consolidation of a few models that are, in fact, viable. I believe they are
referring to the same type of invisible movement described in The Blessed Unrest.
The increasing number of individuals and organization taking it upon themselves
to be these ignored pioneers is going to reach a tipping point, where more
powerful players like large companies and governments will join and we will see
a winnowing out of competing alternatives and the eventual consolidation of
new and viable models. These new and viable models will represent this
systemic innovation, which will be disruptive and will change our seemingly
unchangeable nature of individualism into one of collective action and better
understanding of our place and impact in the larger systems that we belong to.
Eli Stefanski speaks of collaborative innovation and the importance of
systems level thinking. Collaborative innovation can be defined as individuals
and organizations working together in emerging and flexible relationships where
the performance and knowledge of the collective increases rapidly.
Organizations and individuals are increasingly realizing the importance of
working together to achieve goals because not one person holds all the solutions.
Moreover, we must learn how to play at the systems level. Once we think at the
systems level we understand that the coordination of people across industries
and sectors is needed and without it social and systematic innovation cannot
take place. Moreover, the level of social change that we need can only be
achieved through systemic innovation and social change. We need to learn how
to think in terms of systems because we have failed to understand our place in
them. Once we understand systems, how we can impact the systems we have in
place, and how to replace those that are obsolete, we will be able to collectively
undertake social change and innovate at the systems level where it is most
needed.

2.
Richard Wilkinsons TED Talk is about economic inequality, the impact it
has on a nation, and how we can help solve inequality. Wilkinson goes on to
discuss how the average wellbeing of our societies is not related to national
income or economic growth but rather to economic inequality. Inequality causes
a general social dysfunction comprised of a wide variety of negative factors
present in nations where economic inequality is high. Economic inequality is a
result of our current system or our current operating system, as defined by Eli
Stefanski. Our current system is one that rewards individualism but rejects those
who wish to prioritize social welfare instead of pure economic profit. Prioritizing
social welfare will help reduce this social inequality and in turn reduce all the
issues nations face when inequality is high. Therefore, economic inequality is a
quintessential systems issue.
According to Wilkinson, economic inequality is at the root of problems
such as the number of children dropping out of high school, prison sentencing,
mental illness, among others. Moreover, inequality and the general social
dysfunction have a causal relationship, meaning that economic inequality is the
cause of many of the social issues that reduce the wellbeing of states. Therefore,
inequality is a problem at the systems level, which requires a systemic change by
innovators and governments that can think at a systems level. If we continue to
operate under this system we will continue to face high levels of economic
inequality and we will continue to live in countries facing huge social problems
due to this inequality. A social change led by systemic innovation that will yield a
new set of systems dictating a new way of doing things will help us reach a new
level of wellbeing worldwide and naturally help reduce these issues that heavily
affect our countries. As previously stated, it is through social entrepreneurship
and social innovation that individuals and organizations around the world are
working towards achieving a new social order where social welfare is a priority.